I wrote pages today.

I'm a unicorn!

Another New Title Alert!

First, it was... Finders Keepers.

Then, it was Unplugged.

Presenting the new and improved title for the soon-to-be award winning New York Times best selling book for children in the middle grades...

The Do-Nothings

by

Rachel Delovino

 

 

 



I REALLY need an editor.  Stop the madness!!!!!

If I'm Not Flawed... Neither Are My Characters

“You see, when weaving a blanket,

an Indian woman leaves a flaw in the weaving of that blanket

to let the soul out.”

- Martha Graham

 

 

Rejection sucks.  I'll be honest.  Every time I receive a rejection letter, or I don't receive a letter at all, it feels like a victory for every single person who has told me I suck throughout the years.  I'm waking up, with a very bad headache from a very long and gratuitous pity party I threw myself when Ballet for Bullies was turned down for publication.  Dang.  I'm not perfect.

 

I'm flawed.  I tried and I failed.  A decision needs to be made.  Will I try again?  Will I?  I'm in the middle of a dilemma.  And my mettle is being tested.  Just like I aim to test the mettle of my characters in the stories I write. 

 

My soul is out. 

 

And I'm writing.

 



Unplugged

New title alert!

Finders Keepers by Rachel Delovino is now... drumroll please... Oops!  You already know!  It's the title of this blog post. 

Unplugged

by

Rachel Delovino

 

 

I can picture the front cover something like this:  A girl with long hair pulled back into a braid.  She is holding her braid in one hand and shrugging her shoulders.  With a WTF look on her face.  That's "What the Foreclosure?" for those of you who don't know :) And at the bottom of her braid, her hair has turned into a plug.  She is unplugged.  And none too happy about it. 

 

Here is a blurb:

 

When a popular ten-year-old, Amber Hart, is forced to quit using electronics she turns her attention to the woods outside of her home.   Her imagination fuels hours of play, and she makes an unlikely friend... Sam, a boy whose family are "Doomsday Preppers."  They build a bunker, or a hut made out of sticks and fir tree branches, and plot to spend one night sleeping in the woods.  But just before they've finished building the fort, Amber's parents forbid her playing outside.  They won't say why.  When the parents are distracted, however, Amber and Sam pack up and head to the bunker... to find it is already occupied.  And a night of "survival" becomes just that. 

 

Happy writing,

Rachel



My Hero Writers

The characters from the Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum were rewarded for achieving their goal.  My goal, of course, is to write lots of books!  If I could choose... I would have:

The heart of Linda Urban's books.  Her stories are like a warm hug.  A whisper of, "I understand.  I am just like you.  And it will be ok."

The delicious humor of Roald Dahl.  It is a stream of consciousness type of laughing at the odd and quirky and sometimes dark side of life.  A giddiness in observation. 

The expert storytelling of Gary Paulson.  Perfect form without formula.  An element of danger... the sense that the stakes couldn't be higher. 

There are more, but that's a lofty start.  If my books have a tiny measure of what those three authors have, I will say I've reached the end of the yellow brick road.

Happy writing,
Rachel

Search for the Throughline

I'm on the hunt.

This is always the way my stories evolve.  I have a nebulous throughline.  As the characters become real people with real lives and real decisions to make, the throughline changes.  It's like "Alice" from the Twilight series.  Her visions are subjective; they change.  Oh dear, now you know I've read Twilight.  Well, it is a crossover book, you know!  Anyway, the throughline for Amber is fuzzy. 

When I write a throughline, I begin very simply.  A character wants something and has trouble getting it.  What does Amber want?  She wants her best friend back.  Madison.  They've been together forever.  Their moms went to college together.  They have lived across the street from each other since birth.  Until now.  Until the "F" bomb was dropped in Amber's family's living room.  Foreclosure.

Is that enough to keep the action going?  I don't think so.  That is a secondary throughline.  So, what is the main storyline?  What does Amber want?  I was also thinking perhaps she wants to go to Camp Seymour.  It's a common destination for 5th graders in Western Washington.  A trip to camp happens in October (or sometime in the beginning of the school year.)  It is a celebration for making it to the top class of elementary school.  Or something like that.  Really, it's an excuse to play outdoors for a week.  But Amber can't go.  Her family is cutting back.  But they make too much money for the scholarship.  And her dad won't take charity.  So, perhaps the "desire" for Amber is to attend Camp Seymour.  But since she can't, she decides to make her own Camp Seymour?  On Rattlesnake Ridge.

Now some scenes are forming.  Now there is a reason for her to be in the woods.  But... there's the but. 

Amber WANTS to camp outside in the woods, but her parents forbid it.  Will they notice she's gone, though?  With their money problems and Daddy's work review coming up and the three-year-old twins, Bailey and Brady, adjusting to apartment life? 

What if Amber suspects her parents are making up the "thing in the woods" story just to scare her and her friend, Jack, out of sleeping in the woods overnight?  She wouldn't hesitate to do what she wants.  She is that kind of person.  Close a door.  She'll climb through a window. 

One night in the woods. 
It won't kill her. 
Or will it?

:-)

Happy Writing,
Rachel

Let's Pretend...

My 6-year-old daughter is always playing pretend.  I can't tell you the number of leggings she has worn holes in by scooting around the house pretending to be a horse, dog, kitten, or you-fill-in-the-blank.  Sometimes she asks me to play with her.  Her games always begin with, "Pretend _________!" 

Pretend this picture was printed in the Meadow Creek Reporter, the local newspaper circulated in the fictional town in my new book, Finders Keepers. 

Would you want your child playing in the woods? 

Happy Reading,
Rachel

Children Writers

“The difference between school and life? In school, you’re taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson.”
- Tom Bodett


I'll never forget the time, although I've forgotten (or blocked out) her name, when a 3rd grade teacher told me I couldn't use my voice in my writing.  She was a progressive type of teacher and was implementing something new called Writer's Workshop.  We had practiced 'brainstorming' and 'prewriting' and I was well into my draft when I was called to conference with her.  Of course, I was only aware that these pedagogical practices were new and edgy because she told us so.  I had not had a clue who Donald Graves was or that there was a thing called The Writing Process before she spelled the words out in magic markers on a flip chart.  All I knew was that I loved to play pretend and that sometimes those imaginary friends turned into drawings and those drawings turned into stories.  And stories were how I felt my way around my universe.  Like Helen Keller reaching out with her fingertips to see, my stories were my way of making sense of the world. 

So when this nameless third grade teacher armed with her new-found writing process tackled my carefully drawn draft, I fought back.  Because this was my story to tell, I was the author.  "You can't do that."  She told me, pointing at a sentence.  "Why?"  I asked.  I wasn't trying to be difficult then.  I really was trying to understand why I couldn't say what I wanted to say how I wanted to say it to tell the story that needed telling.  Why?  "Well, because it's not correct grammar."  She wisely pointed out.  "You can only do that if it's in quotation marks."  She continued.  I remember this so vividly.  "Because if it's in quotation marks that is what someone is saying and what people say doesn't always follow the grammar rules."

Exactly.

Teachers.  Let your students SAY SOMETHING through their writing.  And let it be not-grammatically-correct.  I know, I know.  Common Core.  Hey, when I was teaching it was the EALRs.  Essential Academic Learning Requirements.  All I'm saying is, maybe have a time when it is safe and, heck, maybe even expected for them to break the rules.  If you want voice, stop editing them before they say what needs to be said.  More, you have to teach them not to self-edit.  To be brave enough to say what is buried.  For some of us, it's buried in a shallow ditch, like a tulip bulb.  Just beneath the surface and ready to bloom.  For others of us, what needs to be said is at the bottom of a hoard of memories.  And it takes a lot of sorting trash to get at the treasure.  Because that's what writing is always about.  Getting to the treasure.  The truth.  All of us know something someone else doesn't. 

That is what will make you marvel at what a child writer has given you.  Not the most glorious seven sentence paragraph. 

Their truth.

An Excerpt from Finders Keepers...

From my new book, Finders Keepers:  



    BWOOP! Went the siren the day her dad was pulled over. They were all in the car, all five of them. Amber, her mom, her dad, and the twins, Bailee and Brady. They were only babies then. Amber was seven. 

“Oh, Sean!” Amber’s mom moaned. Her dad said a bad word and pulled to the side of the road. Amber immediately forgave him.

         “License and registration.” The police officer demanded.  Amber watched the man watch her daddy. She knew he was with the good guys. But she didn’t like him. Not one bit. Her mom shuffled papers in the glove compartment and finally handed a folded up paper to her dad.
        “Texas license, huh?” The policeman eyeballed her dad. “Just move here?”

“Yes, sir.” Her dad said. “Last week.”

         “Beautiful weather for it.” The police officer said, and Amber didn’t know but thought he must be joking. The skies were gray and she hadn’t seen the sun since they’d left the oven heat of Texas.
        “Well, you were going 50 in a 30.” The officer said, handing her dad the little plastic card and folded up paper. “You gotta be careful on this road. We got deer. Bear. And there’s the Children’s Center.” 
        They all looked at the post on the side of the road. It held up a green sign with white lettering that read: Echo Glen Children’s Center. 
       “What’s a Children’s Center?” Amber asked from the back seat after the whole ordeal was over and they were almost to her Grandma’s house in Seattle. The sun poked through the clouds and stabbed the skyline ahead of them. The city. She hated the city.  It was all dirty and noisy and smelled like pee. Thank goodness they hadn't moved there. 
       “I don’t know.” Her dad said.
       “Maybe it’s a daycare.” Her mom said, hopefully. “Or a preschool.” 
       “That would be nice.” Her dad said. “See? We’re going to love Meadow Creek Ridge. It’s a great place to raise a family.” 
       “I know, Sean.” Her mom said, like they’d had this discussion a million and one times. “I’ll have to check it out.” 
       Then the babies started crying and traffic came out of nowhere, making her dad say more bad words (for which Amber forgave him… again.) And everybody forgot about the Echo Glen Children’s Center. Until three years later when the helicopters whirred overhead day and night. And in kitchens throughout the safe neighborhood of Meadow Creek Ridge, parents huddled with their children and muttered, “That poor, poor girl.”

What Every Author Who Has Children Needs

Right?

Putting the Screws to my Draft

I'm revising.
Putting the screws to my draft.
Tight.  Tighter.
Watch out!  She's gonna blow!

A Multiple Choice Question

We all want our pain to mean something.  But what if it doesn't?  At least not the way we want it to.

What can you do with your pain?

A.  Hide it.
B.  Numb it.
C.  Beat the snot out of it.
D.  Run from it.
E.  Make it smaller than someone else's.

OR

A.  Show it.
B.  Feel it.
C.  Learn from it.
D.  Give it boundaries.
E.  Make it bigger than someone else's.

But there's one thing not any one of us can do and that is:

Get out of it. 

So, let's get on with it. 

Happy writing,
Rachel

From the End to the Beginning

I'm working on my next book, with the end in mind.  Can't wait to work this out and see what capers these kids get into!  This story is about pretending:  The adults pretend too much (as in everything is fine, when it's not) and the kids don't pretend enough (too busy with 'activities' and not enough unstructured playtime.) 

Finders Keepers is a contemporary fiction 40,000 word novel for the middle grades.  Ten-year-old Amber Hart, an ambitious and popular girl who uses scheming and back-stabbing to mask a learning disability, must start over when her parents lose their home to foreclosure.  She becomes friends with Sam, also 10, whose family are what some people call Doomsday Preppers.  Sam uses his zest for “survivalism” to mask loneliness.  Amber and Sam spend their afternoons making up games and battling imaginary creatures in the woods that separate the picture-perfect suburban Ridge from the more rural-like Old Town; both are in the city of Meadow Creek.  One day as the two play in the woods a helicopter whirs overhead.  Then another.  Amber’s mom tells her she is not allowed to play in the woods anymore, because something dangerous hides there.  What?  She will not say.  Sam’s father tells him the same thing.  But Amber is not a child who accepts “because I said so” as an answer.  She and Sam decide to find the thing in the woods themselves—or not— and prove to the grown-ups their favorite play place is safe, and they should be allowed back in. 

Padma is an “apartment-kid” in Meadow Creek Ridge where Amber and her family moved.  For many years, popular Amber and her friends shunned her simply because she didn’t live in a house.  Apartment kids could not be in the popular clique.  Period.  But when Amber surprisingly moves in next door to Padma, she hopes that will change.  Instead, Amber is shunned as an “apartment-kid," moving Padma no closer to the popular circle of friends.  Smart Padma discovers she can win favor with Amber's old friends, though, by spying on Amber.  She’s being used, and she knows it, but she finally feels liked.

So, when Amber and Sam sneak into the woods, Padma follows them.  She reports back to the popular kids that Amber is looking for something in the woods.  The popular kids devise a plan to scare Amber and Sam.  Adventures follow.  More to come on that!

But what the kids don’t realize—either because the parents aren’t being completely honest with them or are just too busy to know it—there really IS something dangerous lurking in the woods.  And when a child goes missing, the divided town must come together to find her, and reveal a dark secret no one, especially the Ridgers who worry about their homes’ property values, wants brought to light.